I was on CNN’s Starting Point this morning to discuss the new Volkswagen commercial that’s set to air during the Super Bowl XLVII broadcast on Feb. 3. The original teaser spot was brilliant, and featured reggae great Jimmy Cliff singing a cover of the Partridge Family theme song “Get Happy.” In the previously-released teaser, the positive Jamaican vibe brings together and soothes people (and a llama) who have been made famous for being irritated in viral clips. The longer spot, which VW unveiled on CNN today, might be seen by some as lacking the easy charm of the teaser.

In the longer clip, we see office workers and others speaking with Caribbean accents as they are seemingly possessed by the Jamaican vibe. VW has scored a hit in the past with a Super Bowl ad that featured a pint-sized Darth Vader. But in the new spot, the Jamaican patois, coming out of the mouths of people who seem to be Americans, might remind people of Jar Jar Binks, an alien from the second “Star Wars” trilogy who spoke “broken” English for comic effect. Instead of laughing, some viewers were outraged.

So what’s the offense here? Cliff is great, but it’s off-putting to see the Island spirit used as a punchline. The Jamaican aesthetic–shaped by such Jamaican-born notables as Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey and the revolutionary Nanny of the Maroons–is founded on positive vibration, not mindless happiness. There’s a big difference, and it’s the gap between disposable fare like ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy” and Marley’s uplifting and thoughtful “Three Little Birds,” with its famous lines “Don’t worry about a thing/ ‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.” On “Exodus,” the 1977 album that featured that song, Marley grounded his sunniness with such songs as “So Much Things to Say,” exhorting listeners to never forget “who you are and where you stand in the struggle.”

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.